Doomsday Picnic
by Rose Thorne
Summary: An old enemy of Hiei's is creating a war in the Makai. AU YAOI. Plagiarism of this or any other of my fanfics will not be tolerated. Hintoshu and Midzuho are my creations. Many of the demon concepts are also my creations.
1. Chapter One

The Doomsday Picnic: Chapter 1 The Doomsday Picnic 

By Rose Thorne

Disclaimer: Any characters created by Yoshihiro Togashi remain his. Any ideas or characters that I bring into this story are copyrighted to me, so NYAA NYAA NYAA NYAA NYAA :P!!

I would like to thank Thayet D'Ragon for introducing me to Japanese animation, and for eventually making me into a Ronin Warrior, Gundam Wing, Fushigi Yugi, and Reikai Detectives (undoubtably, I'll be adding more names to the list in time) addict. Thanks for the insanity; may it last forever. *grin*

Author's note: This is yaoi. Not lemon yaoi, but yaoi just the same. If you don't like it, too bad. This is my first attempt at writing a fan fic, so I hope I do an okay job of it.

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Chapter 1

Hiei scowled as he flitted from tree to tree, being careful not to get too far ahead of the others. It was easy to keep sight of his friends, and if he lost sight of them, all he had to do was listen for Kuwabara's loud, annoying voice.

How the _hell_ had they convinced him to go on a _picnic?!_ Ningen picnics were definitely _NOT_ his idea of a good time. Especially when he had to watch a stupid ox like Kuwabara fondle his younger sister, Yukina, the entire time. Koenma had a new assignment for the Reikai detectives, and, since the picnic had already been planned (Hiei hadn't planned on going), he had decided to talk to them during the picnic. Unfortunately, that meant that Hiei _had_ to come. As it was, he intended to stay away from the picnic site as much as possible.

Kurama would have probably convinced him to go anyway. _Damn fox,_ Hiei thought. He knew exactly which buttons to push and how to push them. _Well, maybe that isn't too bad..._ Hiei thought with the smallest ghost of a smile. And the fox was _awfully_ convincing in his ways. He remembered the first time the fox had kissed him, when the redhead had confessed his love to him. To Hiei's surprise, he had found that he returned that love. His feelings had startled him, and he had left to think about Kurama's...offer. Kurama had interpreted his disappearance as rejection. But Hiei had come back and told the fox his true feelings. They had been lovers ever since. Hiei stayed at Kurama's place. Hiei had never felt so happy before.

It was a very sunny and hot day. In diffidence to this fact, Hiei was wearing a dark purple tunic, rather than his usual black. Unfortunately, it was very windy, a hot, dry wind, so the tree branches swayed horribly. More than once, to his annoyance, he had nearly fallen. Thankfully, no one was near enough to see his blunder.

He suddenly noticed that his companions were out of sight. Grumbling to himself, he reluctantly turned around and followed the annoying sound of Kuwabara's voice. Hiei perched in a tree near the picnic area, watching as Boton, Hinigeshi, Genkai, Shizaru and Keiko unloaded the humongous amount of food from the overstuffed picnic basket. Kuwabara and Yukina were sitting close together talking. (Well, not really. Kuwabara was bragging, loudly, I might add, about himself, not letting Yukina getting a word in edgewise. He was also spouting some rather lousy poetry in a pathetic attempt to be romantic)

Koenma, Yuusuke, and Kurama were trying unsuccessfully to spread out the blanket, which was rather amusing to watch because it was too windy for the blanket to stay on the ground and none of them seemed to have enough sense to anchor it. After a few minutes of watching them futily try to spread the blanket, Hiei retrieved some rocks, and the next time the blanket was touching the ground, he ran around it, depositing a rock at each corner and was back in the tree by the time they realized what had happened.

Yuusuke grinned and called out, "Thanks, Hiei!" The call was unanswered by the fire demon, besides an under-the-breath mutter about morons. Yuusuke's grin grew wider. That was a typical response from Hiei. If the ill-tempered youkai had said anything else, Yuusuke would have been scared. _VERY_ scared.

Hiei watched from the tree as the others served themselves, then jumped down to grab a bowl of ramen and a can of soda and retreated back to the tree. He had moved so fast that, to human eyes, it seemed almost as if the food had just appeared in his hands without him having moved. He ate silently, listening to the others' conversations.

After a few hours, and many, many servings of food, the girls opened a cooler. Hiei watched with interest as they took out six squares of sweet snow. Hinigeshi looked rather startled when the one that she had picked up suddenly disappeared. Kurama smiled at the puzzled expression on her face and pointed to the tree, where Hiei was already well on his way to finishing the half-gallon of ice cream. She shook her head with amusement.

After the ice cream had been finished (Hiei had finished off an entire gallon on his own), Koenma stood up and gestured to Hiei, Yuusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara to follow him. He led them (at an annoyingly slow pace, in Hiei's opinion) through the forest, stopping in a small clearing. "Hiei, come down here so I don't have to yell."

Hiei scowled and grumbled a bit, but did as he was asked. He _hated_ being on the ground. Especially since he was so short that others towered over him. What _really_ pissed him off was the smirks that Kuwabara directed at him every time that Hiei was forced to stand near him (which wasn't very often; Hiei made sure of that). The idiot seemed to think that he was superior to Hiei on account of his height. Well, he had some things in store for him next time they practiced. Hiei directed a brief, evil grin at the orange-haired freak, then growled as a headache hit him full-force. Kurama had warned him about eating the sweet snow too fast. What had he called it...? Oh, yes...brain freeze.

Koenma sat down on the grass, and the others followed suit (except Hiei). Hiei was surprised; it was almost as if Koenma had read his mind. His eyes narrowed as he directed a suspicious glare at the Spirit Lord. Koenma studiously ignored him. Hiei remained standing in quiet resistance to the demi-god's authority.

"Alright, I suppose that you're all wondering why you're here." Koenma started.

He was interrupted by an extremely foul-tempered (most of which being caused by his headache) Hiei. "No, _really?!_"

The Spirit Lord wisely ignored the demon. "It seems that there is some trouble in the Makai. For some unknown reason, a large group of half-breed demons is attacking the Koorime. Your assignment is to capture their leader, the fire demon Hintoshu."

Hiei grunted contemptuously. "It would probably be easier to kill _that_ one, though not by much."

The others stared at him. Kuwabara was the first to find his tongue. "You _know_ this asshole?"

Hiei growled. "Unfortunately. He has tried to get me to join his `gang' on numerous occasions." He gave a slight, almost bitter smile. "Eventually, he threatened to kill me if I didn't. I taught him a valuable lesson that day." The smile disappeared. "Of course, that means that there is a possibility that he may try to come after me."

"Oh, great," Kuwabara groaned, "so we might not even have to go looking for him." His eyes widened. "Wait a minute! Did you say he was attacking ice maidens?" Inwardly, Hiei groaned at his absolute, total stupidity.

Koenma nodded. "He has killed nearly three hundred. If this keeps up, the Makai will lose its balance between ice and fire. And you know what that means."

Kurama spoke up. "The out of balance elements will be destroyed, no matter what world they're in." He glanced at Hiei with an unreadable look on his face. "Meaning that both Hiei and Yukina are going to die if we don't stop Hintoshu."

Yuusuke looked at Hiei. "Doesn't this Hintoshu guy know what will happen?"

"He knows." Hiei snapped. "But he won't die because he's only half fire demon. He is half tree demon as well, meaning that he has the speed and agility of a fire demon, and the brute strength and height of a tree demon. He also has control over trees." Hiei looked meaningfully at Kurama. "Control so complete, that I have never seen it surpassed. He will be very hard to beat."

"Wait a minute! I thought you said you'd beaten him." Kuwabara smirked. "Or did you lie about that?"

Hiei glared at him, trying _really_ hard to resist the urge to kill the idiot and be done with it. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that if he did kill Kuwabara, an even _more_ painful death awaited him at the hands of Koenma, not to mention Yukina. So he attacked Kuwabara verbally. "Hn. I'm not you." Kuwabara shot him such a dirty look, that Hiei was reminded of the human phrase _If looks could kill..._ "In any case, that was a very long time ago." He paused, then grudgedly admitted. "And I barely beat him then. Since then, it has been said that he has also mastered the kokuryhurra. Unfortunate that I didn't kill him..."

The others were shocked. The kokuryhurra was an extremely dangerous move, and had been banned from the Makai as a result. As far as they knew, only Hiei had dared to disobey the ban, let alone totally master the technique.

"Oh great, we're doomed." Kuwabara matched Hiei's glare with one of his own. Sparks seemed to fly between the two, and Hiei looked like he was about ready to kill Kuwabara no matter what the consequences.

"Cut it out you guys! This is serious!" Yuusuke yelled, infuriated that his friends would let their differences get in the way of the mission.

Suddenly Kurama shoved Hiei hard, knocking him over. Hiei's flare of anger towards the half-youko melted as a ball of fire hit the ground where he had been sitting only seconds before, carving a small crater.

Kuwabara, unfortunately, was the first one to speak. "I think we'd better get back to the picnic area before something happens to Yukina!"

Suddenly they heard shrieks coming from the picnic area. "Dammit, you just _had_ to say that didn't you Kuwabara?!" Yuusuke yelled angrily as they ran towards the screaming. As they broke through the trees and into the clearing, they saw Boton, Hinigeshi, Keiko, Shizaru, and Yukina throwing food at a particularly large and ugly demon, who, to Kuwabara's amusement (and who else but Kuwabara could be amused by a situation like this), vaguely resembled the Jolly Green Giant. Genkai was repelling the power thrown at the girls by the beast.

Hiei landed near the demon after jumping from the trees. "Hintoshu!" The huge demon turned to look at him. "It's me you want!" The ugly character grinned and completely forgot about the girls, who were huddled on the blanket.

Hiei dodged as a barrage of fireballs came towards him, then retaliated with one of his own. Hintoshu dodged, landing near the girls. He grabbed Yukina by her hair and held her in front of him. "Yield or she dies!"

Hiei hesitated, then dropped into a yield position. Hintoshu grinned and threw Yukina into a tree. Hiei watched in shock as her body slammed into a tree and dropped, unmoving, to the ground. In the split second that he was distracted, Hintoshu lunged. By the time the little youkai saw the Jolly Green Giant heading towards him, it was too late to dodge.

Hintoshu grabbed him by the throat and pulled the struggling fire demon up until their faces were level. "Let's go somewhere a little more...private, shall we? That way your friends won't interfere when I kill you." His breath was so bad that Hiei had a _really_ hard time fighting down the urge to start retching.

Behind Hintoshu, Yuusuke and Kurama were running towards them. Hiei did the only thing he could do to distract the demon. He spit in Hintoshu's face. Hintoshu roared with fury and started to squeeze Hiei's windpipe shut, until he couldn't breathe. Darkness began to obscure his vision. A few seconds later Yuusuke's fist connected with the back of Hintoshu's head, causing his grip to loosen on his captive's throat. Kurama came from the side as Hiei struggled to get loose and hit Hintoshu's arm, causing him to totally lose his grip on the fire demon. Kurama then pulled his lover out of the way as Hintoshu fell forward.

Kuwabara gently carried Yukina to the blanket, where he set her down in front of Genkai, who began to treat her wounds. Hiei caught his breath, then he and Kurama walked to Yuusuke, who was walking around the apparently unconscious Hintoshu.

"Say, Koenma, what do you want us to do with him?" Yuusuke asked with a grin.

"Tie him up so we can question him," Koenma replied.

"Yuusuke," Hiei started. "I don't think he's..."

Before Yuusuke or any of the others could say or do anything else, Hintoshu jumped up, grabbed the black-haired ningen, and threw him into a tree, then launched himself at Kurama, catching him in a bear hug. Hiei stiffened, his katana out, as Hintoshu held a dagger to his lover's throat. "Put the weapons away, or he dies." Hiei hesitated for a horribly long moment, then sheathed his katana. Hintoshu smiled, an extremely ugly sight that revealed his rotten teeth. "If you want to see your friend alive, follow me." He launched himself into the trees, carrying Kurama along with him. Hiei snarled furiously and followed.

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In case you haven't noticed by now, Kuwabara is my least favorite character. All of you out there who like him despite his oh-so-superior attitude: I congratulate you on being so tolerant. You'd probably make a really good parent. (Can you adopt me? Puleease? I'm _such_ a good girl!!) But meanwhile, please bear with me through the rest of this story, since Kuwabara is the butt of a lot of jokes.  
Also, I haven't really gotten the hang of fic writing, so please don't be too critical. I cry easily... ;_;


	2. Chapter Two

The Doomsday Picnic: Chapter 2 The Doomsday Picnic 

By Rose Thorne

Disclaimer: Any characters created by Yoshihiro Togashi remain his. Any ideas or characters that I bring into this story are copyrighted to me, so NYAA NYAA NYAA NYAA NYAA :P!!

Author's note: How's the yaoi? Am I doing okay? Please send any questions/comments to me at my e-mail address: Rose_Thorne@yyhmail.com. Thanx. By the way, I _WON'T_ do lemon scenes, so don't ask. (At least, not in THIS fic…)

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Chapter 2

Kurama cursed himself for being caught so easily. Hintoshu was using him as bait for Hiei, and it was working. He watched helplessly, Hintoshu's dagger pressed to his throat, as his lover stiffened in horror, katana at the ready. The others froze as well, Yuusuke from getting up, Kuwabara after calling his rei ken.

"Put the weapons away, or he dies." Kurama watched as Hiei hesitated for a long moment then sheathed his katana. Kuwabara got rid of the sword. "If you want to see your friend alive, follow me." Hintoshu carried Kurama through the forest at an impossible speed. The half-youko turned his head and saw Hiei following right behind.

They stopped in a small clearing after about a minute, and the blade suddenly appeared at Kurama's throat again. "Let him go," Hiei intoned, "so we can fight."

Hintoshu grinned, obviously enjoying Hiei's precarious position. "Now," he smiled, clearly talking to Kurama, "how shall I kill you? Hmmm?" He ran the blade of the dagger over the redhead's cheek. Kurama was having a hard time suppressing the wave of fear and revulsion that washed over him. The demon continued, evidently enjoying himself. "The Death of a Thousand Cuts? Hmmm? How does that sound? Or should I just slit your throat and be done with you? Or maybe I could _play_ with you before I kill you..." Kurama swallowed hard. The Jolly Green Giant glanced at Hiei, who was obviously having a hard time keeping his anger in check. "What do _you_ think, Hiei?"

"Hn. You always have been afraid to fight, Hintoshu." Hiei retorted, nearly trembling with rage. "Always hiding behind other people. Fight me, you coward!"

Hintoshu fumed at Hiei. "As you wish. Prepare to die!" He jumped into the nearest tree and, suddenly, the tree's branches encircled Kurama's arms and legs, effectively restraining him. Hintoshu smiled sickeningly at the redhead. "I'll be back for _you_ later."

__

Great. I look forward to it. Kurama thought sarcastically as Hintoshu jumped out of the tree. He watched as the two demons fought at high speed, Hiei being careful to stay away from the trees after what had happened to Kurama, and sighed. It would be a long fight. He _really_ hoped that Hiei would win...

* * *

Meanwhile, Yuusuke and Kuwabara ran through the forest at full speed in the general direction in which Hintoshu, Kurama, and Hiei had disappeared. Yuusuke hoped that Hiei and Kurama wouldn't hog all the fun. He growled in frustration. He also hoped that Kurama would be able to escape Hintoshu. Then he chided himself. He should have more faith in his friend. After all, Kurama was a youko. He could get out of any situation. Besides, Hiei was there to help him...

* * *

Both Hiei and Hintoshu had wounds covering their bodies, ranging from Hiei's small slice on his cheek to Hintoshu's severed ear. The severed ear had made the Jolly Green Giant quite a bit less jolly (if he had been jolly in the first place, which is extremely questionable), and Hiei was starting to have a hard time deflecting all of the blows directed at him.

After seeing Hiei's trouble, Kurama desperately tried to take control of the tree that was holding him captive so he could help Hiei against Hintoshu, but the only effect was that the tree branches yanked his arms and legs hard, nearly pulling them out of their sockets. He gasped, nearly passing out, and decided against trying that again.

He looked out into the clearing again, blinking furiously, trying to clear the black spots from his vision...just in time to see Hiei get caught by Hintoshu. The small fire demon's katana was knocked away from him. Kurama gasped, watching his lover as struggled to free himself from the monstrously huge demon.

Hintoshu backed the struggling fire demon into a tree near Kurama and grinned savagely. "I've been waiting for this moment for a long time; ever since you humiliated me in front of my friends so many years ago. Now you _die!_"

Hiei squirmed in his captor's grip and tried to bite him, growling. Hintoshu's hand moved so fast that Kurama didn't know that it had until Hiei's eye's bulged and a dagger, the same dagger that had been pressed to Kurama's throat only ten minutes before, suddenly appeared in the fire demon's side. Hiei struggled harder, desperately trying to get loose. Hintoshu leered cruelly and twisted the blade. Hiei gasped and stopped struggling, doubled over with pain, blood turning his purple tunic almost black.

"_NO!!_" Kurama screamed, horrified, struggling desperately against the tree branches, which were not showing any sign of yielding. "_HIEI!!_"

Hintoshu turned towards the redhead. "Don't worry, you'll get your turn." He tossed Hiei aside carelessly. "In fact, now would be fine with me." The demon started for the tree.

Kurama's eyes widened as he watched his lover struggle to his feet, obviously in a lot of pain, behind Hintoshu. "Not so fast!"

The demon turned around and chuckled. "A small diversion; easily gotten rid of." He threw a volley of fireballs at the small fire demon. Hiei dodged, gritting his teeth in pain. "Oooh! Target practice. And with a moving target no less. How amusing." Barrage after barrage headed towards the small fire demon, and barrage after barrage was dodged.

Kurama watched wide-eyed, knowing that Hiei's luck couldn't hold out much longer. Sure enough, the small youkai was grazed by one of the balls soon afterward.

The short fire demon once again struggled to his feet, only to promptly be punched in the side of the head by one of Hintoshu's watermelon-sized fists. Hiei crumpled bonelessly to the ground, and didn't move again.

"_NO!!_" Kurama screamed, desperately hoping that the purple-clad fire demon was only unconscious, and not dead. Hintoshu turned toward the redhead with a grin so maniacal that it made Kurama shudder. The huge beast clearly intended to kill him too...

* * *

Yuusuke ran to the left, Kuwabara following, as they heard Kurama's horrified-sounding cry. Something was wrong. Horribly wrong. After a few minutes, they emerged into a clearing just in time to see Hiei get flattened by Hintoshu's fist. Kurama was yelling something, obviously upset.

"That's it! I'm gonna fry this asshole!" Yuusuke growled angrily, as Hintoshu turned around and walked towards a tree, where Kurama was struggling helplessly against some kind of restraint. "Rei gan!" He shot at the leering demon. Hintoshu dodged and the bolt of energy hit the tree that Kurama was in instead. "Oops..."

* * *

Kurama jumped to the ground as the now-dead tree released him and ran toward Hiei's collapsed form, dropping to his knees beside him and frantically feeling for a pulse. He sighed in relief when he found one, then turned to see the other two running toward him.

"The coward ran!" Kuwabara declared, once again stating the obvious, considering that the Jolly Green Giant was no longer anywhere to be seen.

"We have to get him back to Genkai. He's seriously injured." Kurama informed them, changing into his swifter youko form. He picked Hiei's limp body up, and gently cradled him in his arms, being careful to support his injured head. "I'll meet you at the picnic area." He bounded into the forest at full speed, quickly disappearing from sight.

Kuwabara and Yuusuke followed at a significantly slower speed, pausing only to allow Yuusuke to retrieve Hiei's bloodstained katana from the edge of the clearing.

* * *

Kurama reached the edge of the clearing within minutes, but stopped as his enhanced kitsune sense of smell picked up an intruder. After gently setting Hiei down on the soft grass, he peeked out from behind a tree.

Standing with his back to Kurama, a police officer was talking to Genkai. Koenma, who had stayed behind just in case Hintoshu had decided to come back for the girls, was sitting in front of the still-unconscious Yukina, trying to keep her out of sight.

"Are you sure you didn't hear any screaming?" the officer was asking Genkai suspiciously.

"The girls were screaming for a little while because the boys frightened them, but otherwise, no." Genkai replied in her slightly gravelly voice.

"And you're sure you didn't see anything..." the officer cleared his throat, obviously embarrassed to have to say what he was going to. "...anything even remotely resembling the...er... Jolly Green Giant?"

Kurama had a hard time stifling his laughter at the look on the officer's face when he said that. Genkai didn't bother; she laughed out loud. "The Jolly Green Giant? Isn't that the mascot for an American vegetable canning company?" She laughed again. "You can't be serious!!"

The officer looked peeved. "Thank you for your time, ma'am." he said between clenched teeth. He walked away, all the while muttering angrily. "I _told_ the chief that it had to be a prank call, but _nooo,_ he wanted someone to check it out. And _I_ was the lucky one. I'm going to be the laughing stock of the station for _weeks_...no, _months_...no, _years!!_ I can't believe that I _actually_ have to write a report for this..." He moved out of the youko's hearing range.

By this time, Yuusuke and Kuwabara had caught up with him. "Why'd ya stop? What's wrong?" Kuwabara asked. Kurama indicated for him to be quiet, then gently picked Hiei up again and walked deeper into the forest. The other two followed curiously.

"Where are you going?" Yuusuke asked, being very careful to keep his voice low.

Kurama answered just as quietly. "The police were out there a couple minutes ago. Evidently, someone complained about the noise and our huge `friend'...the Jolly Green Giant look-alike." Yuusuke snickered. Kurama stopped joking around. "And if that someone sees me carrying Hiei, with all this blood, they're going to think that we did this to him."

Yuusuke stopped laughing and cursed. "You're right. What should we do?"

Kurama paused. "Go tell Genkai that Hiei was injured and to come to the temple immediately." Yuusuke began to turn. "Um... Yuusuke?"

"Huh?" the black haired boy asked.

"Maybe you should give me that katana." Kurama was having a hard time not laughing at Yuusuke's absentmindedness.

Yuusuke looked dumbly at the bloodstained weapon in his hands. "Oh...uh...right." He handed it to Kurama, who carefully slid it into the sheath on Hiei's belt.

"Tell Genkai to hurry." Kurama called softly, as Yuusuke and Kuwabara ran toward the clearing. The silver-haired youko turned and bounded swiftly in the direction of Genkai's temple.

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At the end of this particular chapter, my friends asked me why, in most fanfics, the bad guy almost _always_ uses Kurama as bait for the others. I pointed out something very true: Who would _want_ to save someone as annoying as Kuwabara or Yuusuke, and how the hell would they _catch_ Hiei? And besides, if they did use Hiei, chances are, Kuwabara wouldn't care (_DAMN_ him). Well, maybe he would. There was that one time in _Shadows and Lies..._  
Anyway, there's just something about Kurama that makes him the most believable character for the others to want to save. I mean, all the rest have qualities that make it so you don't _want_ to save them. Kuwabara is an idiot, Yuusuke can say and do the dumbest things, and, well, Hiei is just a bit too much like the 'I don't need your help'-type, although, Kurama'll help him anyway. Kurama's the sweet, gentle type (except when he's really pissed). He's excessively nice and polite to almost everyone. Heck, I know _I'd_ want to save him.


	3. Chapter Three

The Doomsay Picnic: Chapter 3 The Doomsday Picnic 

  
By Rose Thorne

Disclaimer: I'm kinda getting sick of writing...er...typing this over and over again, so I guess you'll just have to live with this: Anything that's not mine, is not mine. ^=^

Author's note: Am I still doing okay. Any questions/comments, please send to Rose_Thorne@yyhmail.com. Thanx again.

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Chapter 3

Kurama reached Genkai's temple within ten minutes. He knew it would be quite a while before the others got there because, being only human, they were much slower than him. He gently set his lover on one of the futons and quickly made the transition from his youko form to his human form, then looked over Hiei's injuries.

The left side of Hiei's face was horribly bruised. His eye was swollen shut and his upper lip was already swollen to twice it's normal size. He also had a large purple bruise across his throat where Hintoshu had tried to strangle him. Kurama left the room for a moment and returned with a bowl of cold water and a couple of rags. He soaked one of the rags and placed it over the left side of the youkai's face to help bring down the swelling.

He frowned as he finished taking care of Hiei's visible wounds, then carefully removed his lover's blood-soaked tunic. Kurama winced in sympathy; Hintoshu hadn't bothered to remove the dagger. The redhead didn't touch it, but instead assessed the extent of the fire demon's other wounds.

The fire demon had a deep gash on his arm, which was bleeding profusely. Kurama probed the area gently and his frown deepened. He opened his hand briefly as a bright red flower appeared, then closed it again tightly, crushing the blossom over the wound until a few drops of orange sap fell from between his fingers. Almost immediately, the bleeding tapered, then stopped altogether. The redhead gently wiped the drying blood from Hiei's arm with another damp cloth and wrapped the wound tightly.

Kurama then treated the rest of Hiei's wounds, except the most serious one. That he would leave to Genkai's expertise. When he had done all he could, the redhead covered Hiei with a blanket, gently brushed spiky black hair from his lover's face, and sat down to wait for the others. After a while he drifted off into an uneasy doze.

* * *

Kurama started out of a light sleep, mentally kicking himself for drifting off, as he heard voices from outside. He rose quickly as the door slid open and Genkai and Kuwabara entered. Kuwabara was holding Yukina in his arms. He carried the small Koorime girl to a futon and set her down gently, then covered her with a blanket. He was then ushered out by Genkai.

"You took care of his wounds?" Genkai asked after glancing at the small figure on the futon before her.

Kurama nodded shortly. "All but one." He gently uncovered Hiei and showed Genkai the dagger wound.

"Hmmm. I am glad you did not try to remove the dagger." She carefully twisted the dagger back into its original position and pulled it out. Kurama winced as fresh blood bubbled up, then handed her another bright red flower. Finally, Genkai cleaned and wrapped the fire demon's last wound.

"_Rest,_" she ordered Kurama, "it has been an exhausting day for all of us."

He shook his head doggedly. "No. I need to call my parents." Genkai nodded.

Kurama left the room and used the telephone. Nobody else had to call their parents, even though Yuusuke still lived with his mother. Yuusuke's mom was a drunk and didn't really notice if he was there or not. Kuwabara was gone so often, that his parents wouldn't think anything of him disappearing for a week.

Kurama had rented an apartment and was no longer living with his parents, but they still insisted on looking out for him. And his okaasan pestered him incessantly about getting a girlfriend, getting married, and having kids. She didn't and wasn't going to know about his and Hiei's relationship. In fact, neither was anyone else.

He told his 'kaasan that he was going to go camping with some friends, and not to worry. Then he asked his stepfather for time off work. He grumbled a bit, but gave it to Kurama, as he had vacation due to him.

The redhead sighed and went outside, where the others were lounging around. "I told my parents that we're camping. We should have a few weeks before they start to worry."

Yuusuke snorted. "Some camping trip! We'll _probably_ end up `camping' in the Makai!" Koenma shot him a dirty look. The black-haired ningen looked around at the others with a confused expression on his face. "What'd I say?!"

Kurama shrugged tiredly and went back inside. He walked to the room where Genkai was watching over Hiei and Yukina and slid open the door. She watched silently as the redhead moved across the room and carefully removed Hiei's katana from his belt. He sat cross-legged against the wall, took the blade from its sheath, and began to clean the blood from it with a rag. Genkai sat watching for a few minutes, then left.

Kurama continued cleaning the katana until there was no trace of blood on its blade, then resheathed it and placed it on the floor beside Hiei. He gazed at his lover for a while, then ran his fingers through spiky black hair and kissed him gently on the forehead. The redhead then sat back against the wall and tried unsuccessfully to stay awake.

* * *

Hours later Genkai silently slid open the door to see Kurama asleep against the wall in a sitting position with his head against his chest. She padded over to him and touched him gently on the shoulder, waking him instantly. "_Sleep,_" she whispered to him. "You are not helping anyone by exhausting yourself."

The redhead nodded tiredly and lay down on one of the futons. He was asleep before his head even hit the pillow. Genkai sighed softly and covered the sleeping boy with a blanket, then sat cross-legged for the rest of the night, meditating.

* * *

Kurama awoke to see the light of the moon shining through the window onto his face. He sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes. Hinigeshi was standing near the door. "Hello, Kurama. Are you okay?"

Kurama nodded and looked around the room. "Where are Genkai and Yukina?"

"Oh. Genkai's meditating in the other room. Yukina woke up earlier and is outside with the others." Hinigeshi looked at him. "What happened at the picnic? Who was that demon?"

Kurama sighed, mildly amused that, for once, Hinigeshi didn't know the name and history of any one demon. "That demon who attacked us..." He trailed off, uncertain of what to say. Hinigeshi stared at him expectantly. "His name is Hintoshu. He seems to know Hiei somehow, though I don't know how well."

"But why did he attack _us?_" Hinigeshi asked persistently.

Kurama looked away. "I'm not sure. Hiei said something about Hintoshu trying to kill him, but he didn't get the chance to say much else..." Hinigeshi nodded sympathetically.

Kurama knelt beside Hiei and removed the cloth from his face. There was no longer any swelling, and the only evidence that he had been injured was a black eye and a bruised cheek. He started as Hiei's ruby-colored eyes slowly opened. "Hiei?"

"What happened?" the fire demon mumbled, pushing himself into a sitting position. He felt at his head and winced as if he had a bad headache, which was incredibly likely, considering that he had been hit by someone with the size (and intelligence) of a small bus.

"Hintoshu nearly killed you. He would have if Yuusuke and Kuwabara hadn't shown up." Kurama smiled softly as Hiei grimaced in disgust at the notion of having been saved by _Kuwabara._ "You've been out for nearly twelve hours."

Hiei started to speak, but was cut off as a hole suddenly appeared in the ceiling. A large blue-haired demon jumped through the hole, landing in the middle of the room. Hinigeshi shrieked before being thrown into a wall by a blast of wind. Kurama and Hiei jumped, dodging a second one.

Hiei went to his belt for his katana and realized that it wasn't there. He spotted it on the floor on the other side of the room. He cursed as he dodged another blast of wind and lunged for it.

The blue-haired demon, who was evidently a wind demon, unsheathed a no-dati and swung at Hiei, who barely managed to dodge. Kurama attacked the demon with his rose whip. The demon jumped and sliced the whip in half, then swung at Kurama, who was too slow in dodging. A gash appeared in the redhead's side and a gust of wind propelled him across the room into a wall.

Hiei took advantage of the distraction that Kurama had provided, ignoring the twist in his gut that seeing Kurama get injured had caused, and dove for his katana. The demon turned too late and missed the small fire demon. It swung again and hit. Hiei gritted his teeth as pain shot through his leg. Kurama stood up across the room, changing into a silver-haired youko, ready to attack. Kuwabara and Yuusuke charged through the door.

The demon whirled on them, then suddenly let out a scream, clutched its head, and fell to its knees. "No! He promised he wouldn't..." it wailed in a decidedly feminine voice, sobbing pitifully into its (her?) hands.

Yuusuke and Kuwabara were ready to kill the weeping demon, but Hiei gestured to them to hold off and limped toward it. "Who are you?" The demon lifted its head from its hands. Hiei started as he recognized her. "Midzuho?! Why are you working for Hintoshu?" The others stared at him, startled by his recognition of his attacker.

She lowered her head in shame. "I am sorry Hiei-san. He captured my family and told me that I had to kill _you_ or he'd kill _them._" She began to sob again. "And...and he killed them anyway."

Hiei resheathed his katana and glanced at the others. Kurama was leaning heavily against the wall, in his human form once again, holding his side. Yuusuke was carrying the unconscious Hinigeshi. Kuwabara was just standing there, doing what he does best: looking like, not to mention being, an idiot. "Midzuho, you have two choices. You can go back to Hintoshu with the knowledge that he _will_ kill you, or you can help us fight against him and avenge the death of your family." He studied her intently, waiting for an answer.

She stood. "You _know_ my choice. I stay." She smiled sadly. "I really am sorry about this."

"Wait a minute!" Kuwabara complained. "She just _attacked_ you! How do you know she can be trusted?!" Midzuho lowered her head shamefully.

Hiei glared at Kuwabara. "Shut up, _baka!!_" He limped from the room.

Midzuho retreated after him after getting a nasty look from Kuwabara. "Hiei-san..." She trailed off as she noticed his limp. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." he snapped irritably. Midzuho recoiled. Hiei turned away, immediately regretting having snapped at her. "Did Hintoshu tell you why he was attacking the Koorime?" he asked more gently.

Midzuho looked away. "He...he said that if he killed enough of them, you would die." Hiei's mouth dropped open as he gaped at her in utter surprise. She continued reluctantly. "After you beat him and left, he went crazy. He became obsessed with killing you. He took over the town, killing anyone who got in his way. Eventually, most of us left." She sighed. "He caught many of us though. He uses our families against us." She looked up darkly. "He used _mine_ to manipulate _me._"

The fire demon was silent for a long moment. "Midzuho, please do not speak to the others of this. They do not know my past." Midzuho nodded and walked back into the temple.

Hiei jumped onto the temple's roof and sat. He checked the wound on his leg and winced as he saw a flash of bone. He jumped from the roof and limped inside.

Hinigeshi had regained consciousness and was sitting on the floor, Genkai, Yukina, and Boton beside her. Midzuho was sitting near them, apologizing to Hinigeshi profusely. Kuwabara and Yuusuke were trying to grill Midzuho, who was studiously ignoring them. Kurama was nursing his injury on the other side of the room.

Hiei walked to Kurama. "You were injured."

The redhead looked up, smiling slightly at the hint of concern in his deep voice. "I'm fine. It isn't too bad of an injury." He smiled. "I've survived worse..." He looked at Hiei's bloodstained pant leg. "You're hurt. Sit down." Hiei obeyed. Kurama looked at the gash through the ripped pant leg and winced in sympathy. He gently rolled up the pant leg and cleaned and wrapped the wound.

Hiei rose and walked to the open window, still favoring his left leg. He casually leaned against the windowsill and took out his katana. The fire demon examined the blade, then pulled a cloth out of hammerspace, and began to clean away a nonexistent stain.

Koenma indicated for silence and stood up. "I suppose that you have the right to know what is going on." He was speaking to the girls, who had been left out of the earlier discussion. "The demon who attacked us is Hintoshu. He is half tree demon and half fire demon. He and a large group of other half-breed demons have been attacking and killing the Koorime." Yukina gasped in horror. Koenma turned to her. "I am sorry to have to tell you that your mother was one of those killed."

Yukina gaped at him for a moment, then burst into tears. Tear gems clattered to the floor by the dozens. Kuwabara held the weeping Koorime, and the women crowded around, trying unsuccessfully to comfort her. No one noticed that Hiei had left through the open window. Finally, Yukina's tears subsided and she allowed herself to be led from the room by a compassionate Boton. The other women followed, with the exception of Shizaru.

Kuawabara's sister pulled a cigarette and lit it, then turned to look at the guys. "Y'know, this really sucks." Then she left the room as well.

Kuwabara reluctantly stayed behind, convinced by Koenma's threatening look. He scanned the room, looking for someone to take his anger out on. He exploded as he realized that his usual victim was missing. "Where the _fuck_ did Hiei go?! I wanna ask him about this Hintoshu asshole!"

* * *

Kurama stiffened as he realized that Hiei was gone. "I'll go find him." He opened the door, changing into his youko form as he left so he could track Hiei easier. The kitsune followed his lover's scent to a small lake. Hiei was standing on the bank. Kurama reverted to human form and walked forward until he stood behind the fire demon. His presence was ignored.

"Hiei..." Kurama paused as the small fire demon stiffened. "Hiei, I'm sorry about..."

"_GO AWAY!!_" Hiei snarled, interrupting Kurama. "_LEAVE ME ALONE!!_"

The redhead took a step back, startled by his lover's hostility. "Hiei..."

"_Leave me alone, stupid fox!!_" Hiei shouted. His form blurred and he was gone.

Kurama sighed and let him go, knowing that his lover would come back when he was ready. He frowned as he saw something glittering near the bank of the lake and stepped closer to inspect. The half-youko started as he saw that it was a single black tear gem. He debated for a while, then picked it up and put it in one of his pockets.

The redhead's form shimmered briefly as he became a silver-furred kitsune. Turning, he started back to Genkai's temple.

* * *

Everyone looked up as a nine-tailed silver fox entered the temple. "Well, where is he?" Kuwabara immediately demanded of the creature.

The fox changed into a red-haired human. "I..." Kurama paused, deciding what to say. "I don't know." he finally responded, neatly sidestepping the question. Not a lie, but not the whole truth, either.

"I _thought_ that you could track him." Kuwabara sneered. "I guess you're not as good as you thought."

Kurama sighed, understanding at last why Hiei so often lost his temper with Kuwabara. "When Hiei doesn't _want_ to be found, he _won't_ be."

Kuwabara grumbled something under his breath, then glared at Kurama. "Why'd he leave anyway?!"

Kurama sighed. "I don't know." A lie, but he couldn't reveal the truth to him. Everyone else that was present (with the possible exception of Midzuho) already knew the real reason that Hiei had run off, and each of them knew better than to ask stupid questions.

Midzuho looked up. "I know why." Kurama glanced at her, wondering just how well she knew Hiei. "I told him why Hintoshu was attacking the Koorime." They looked at her, waiting for her to continue. She complied. "Years ago, Hiei fought Hintoshu and beat him. After their `great' leader was defeated, Hintoshu's gang rejected his leadership. I guess he went a little crazy after that." She paused. "Hintoshu took over the town, killing anyone who tried to stop him. He got his gang back, but he continues to rule it only because everyone is too _afraid_ to oppose him. He schemed for years, and finally came up with a plan. He decided to kill as many Koorime as he could, so, eventually, the Makai would lose its balance between ice and fire and both elements would be destroyed, _including_ Hiei."

They sat in silence, disgusted by the notion of someone initiating a mass genocide just to kill one person. And for the primitive reason of revenge, no less. Koenma finally spoke. "But why would he going to kill so many innocent people just to get to Hiei?"

Midzuho sighed. "Hintoshu doesn't care who he hurts or kills. The only thing he cares about is revenge for the humiliation Hiei caused him by beating him. Hintoshu's too cowardly to attack Hiei outright because he knows he'd lose in a fair fight. He hides behind other people instead."

Everyone sat still for a moment in stunned silence. Finally Kuwabara changed the subject. "Do we need to go protect the Koorime? I, the mighty Kazuma Kuwabara, will protect them with my skill and cunning."

Koenma was silent for a moment, probably trying to keep from laughing. He won that battle. "No. We already have an army of demons there."

Kurama was relieved. Had they been ordered to go to the Koorime city, Hiei would have left for good. If he were forced to go, there was a chance that the Koorime would find out that he was the Forbidden Child and kill him. Even if they didn't find out, the mere fact that Hintoshu was killing them to get to him would be a large problem. He didn't even want to think about what they'd do to him...

He was startled out of his reverie when Koenma continued. "But, if the situation gets much worse, we may have to go." He paused. "And I can practically guarantee that it's going to get worse before it gets better." He did _not_ say `if it gets better.' He looked up. "Meaning that you might want to haul out the winter clothes, just in case."

Kurama looked up. "Koenma, you can't take Hiei to the Koorime city. If they find out that Hintoshu is only killing them to get to him..."

"Then they might do the job _for_ him." Koenma finished, knowing full well the other reason. "Alright then, he stays here. As do you, Kurama, considering that plants don't grow in climates that cold." He glanced at Midzuho. "You, too, shall stay in the Ningenkai." He paused. "Let's go get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us."

Koenma, Yuusuke, and Kuwabara went into another room, where there wasn't a sunroof, to sleep. Midzuho and Kurama stayed where they were. The wind demon stared at Kurama. "So _you_ are the great fox-thief, Kurama? I thought he was dead."

Kurama looked at her with something very much like amusement playing across his face. "I _did_ die. Fortunately, I managed to escape to the Ningenkai before dying. I was reincarnated into a human."

Midzuho nodded, then stared at him, as if sizing him up. "How well do you know Hiei?" she asked.

Kurama looked at her, trying not to blush. "I could ask you the same question." He sighed when Midzuho smiled. "I know the other reason he ran. As do Yuusuke and Koenma. Nobody else, though. Hiei doesn't trust too many people. He hasn't even told Yukina." The redhead sighed, then continued softly. "And Yukina refuses to leave the Ningenkai until she finds her brother."

Midzuho glanced at the door and lowered her voice so Kurama could barely hear it. "I know his past also. His link to the Koorime included." She stared at him, then continued. "My family took him in after he came to our town because he looked like he was only a child. He didn't tell my parents his past, but, after a while, he told me. He was the forbidden Koorime child that the entire Makai was raving about. When he went to the fire demons, they tried to kill him."

"Didn't anyone ever ask him questions about his past?" Kurama wondered aloud.

The wind demon shook her head. "When you live in a town where everyone has a bad past, you don't ask questions. Oh, there were those who asked, but they were the ones who ended up hurt or dead." She smiled. "Hiei dealt with one such character. It happened the first week that he was in town. Thinking that Hiei was too small to take care of himself, one of the town badies tried to steal his Koorime tear gem." She paused, sighed, then proceeded to tell Kurama about that day.

* * *  
--Flashback--  
* * *

Young Midzuho looked down at her companion. Her parents had taken in the small newcomer, who had told them that his name was Hiei. Of course, _she_ had gotten stuck watching out for him. Many newcomers didn't make it through their first week in this town. So she'd gotten the job of showing him the ropes. She'd rather have been playing in the park with her friends.

Even worse, when she told him what to avoid doing, he had just rolled his eyes and ignored her. His exact comment was "Hn. _Whatever._" _Then_ he'd gone and smarted off to one of the biggest, nastiest demons in town. _That_ had to have been the fastest that she'd ever run before in her _entire_ life. _And_ she'd had to _drag_ him behind her, as he hadn't seemed to _want_ to run. Now, the whole town knew about him, and all the thugs were looking for him to see how tough he really was. If he got himself hurt, she'd be in _major_ trouble. Her father would ground her for a _month!_

They were walking down the main street, when one of the local thugs grabbed her charge and ripped a necklace from around his neck. He threw Hiei down at Midzuho's feet. "Now what do we have here?" the pickpocket cackled, holding up his prize.

The problem was ignored by passers-by, as it was almost an everyday occurrence.

Midzuho watched as the small demon jumped angrily to his feet, yelling, "_Give it back!_"

The thief just leered at him and examined his prize. The look on his face quickly turned to one of surprise. "_What?!_ You're the For-" That was as far as he got, as, at that point, his head fell to the ground, a surprised look on its face.

Midzuho gaped at her charge in shock as he grabbed his necklace from the now-dead thief's hand, then calmly wiped the blood from the blade of his weapon and resheathed it in the sheath that was hidden beneath the cloak that he always wore. The boy scowled at the body before him, then punted the thug's head down the street. Midzuho just stood there, not sure of what to do. Obviously, this boy was not as helpless as he looked.

By this time the happenings _had_ attracted the attention of passers-by. They crowded around Hiei, Midzuho, and the dead body, some yelling obscene things, others just staring at the headless form that was lying in the dirt. Fortunately Midzuho's father arrived just then and muscled his way through the crowd to his daughter and the boy he had taken in. Midzuho's father was a large man (demon, whatever), so the crowd moved away, mostly out of fear.

"Come on, we're going home," the extremely pissed wind demon muttered, grabbing each of them by the arm and dragging them through the now-thinning crowd.

* * *  
--End Flashback--  
* * *

"After that day, no one ever messed with Hiei again, and I never complained about having to stay with him when we went out. In fact, my parents made me go out with Hiei for my _own_ protection." Midzuho looked at him for a reaction, having ended her tale.

Kurama smiled a bit as she finished. "That certainly sounds like something Hiei would do." Midzuho laughed with him. Kurama looked at her curiously. "Not to pry or anything, but how did you know that your family was...well..."

Midzuho stopped laughing rather abruptly. "Killed?" she finished for him bitterly. She sighed sadly. "Wind demon families are very close-knit, unlike many other demon-families in the Makai. We have a sort of link among our close family, and sometimes very close friends, that is established by a hired telepath. That's how I knew that they were gone."

Kurama didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry," he managed to whisper. Midzuho nodded appreciatively and left the room. Kurama sighed and sat against the wall, hidden in the shadows, trying to push away his worried thoughts to meditate.

* * *

Hours later, Kurama was startled into awareness by the sound of someone jumping through the open window. He watched as a dark figure crossed the room and sat in a corner.

Kurama's eyes adjusted to the darkness and he saw Hiei unwrapping his injured arm. The fire demon examined the wound for a moment, then began cleaning it demon-style.

The redhead silently rose and walked toward Hiei, who froze mid-lick when he heard Kurama approach. When he was about three feet away from the youkai, Kurama stopped. "Hiei, are you okay?" He kept his voice low.

"_Go away!!_" Hiei growled. Kurama decided that it was probably better _NOT_ to argue with a pissed off fire demon, _especially_ if that fire demon happened to be Hiei, lover or no, and slowly backed away and left the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is taking a long time to write, considering that I keep geting side-tracked with other stories, like _Kesu, Fruitcake,_ or _Kachime no Nai._  
Anyone who likes _Yu Yu Hakusho_ should see a Japanese anime that I recently saw called _Twilight of the Dark Master._ Warning: this movie contains a character that's kinda like a cross between Youko Kurama and Hiei. (_That_ has some _really_ kinky implications!! :D )


	4. Chapter Four

The Doomsday Picnic: Chapter 4 The Doomsday Picnic 

  
By Rose Thorne

Disclaimer: Whatever anyone else owns is theirs. Please don't sue me; I'm penniless, and, unfortunately, lawyers don't work for peanuts. (_Most_ of 'em are democrats!! Yuck yuck yuck!! Yeah, I _know_ it's corny...so _sue_ me. _No, wait, I didn't mean that!!_) So what's mine is mine and what's not mine is not mine (obviously). By the way, any characters that I create and don't kill off before the end of this fic are free for use in other fics. I really don't mind; that means that people are _actually_ reading this!! _Wow!!_

I just got done with a _Fushigi Yugi_ marathon!! Ai shiteru, Tasuke-sama! Kill Miaka! Kill Miaka! Kill...uh...oops. I...uh..._really_ hope no one out there likes Miaka all too much... Gotta love the Nyan Nyans though. Me fix...fix, fix good!! Wait a minute!! I'm a _Nyan Nyan_ in chibi form?! Why doesn't anyone ever _tell_ me these things?! _WAHHHH!!!_ ...Don't mind me: a _little_ too much caffeine. _COFFEE!!_

Author's note: Am I doing okay with the yaoi? I'm not making this a lemon (sorry) 'cause I don't know enough about male sexual habits...yet...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 4

Kurama entered the room where the others were sleeping, after slowly backing out of the room and away from Hiei's extremely foul temper, and cringed when he heard the awful rumbling noise coming from Kuwabara. The redhead sighed and lay down on an empty futon, making sure that it was as far away from the snoring Kuwabara as he could get. (Unfortunately, that wasn't very far, since everyone else seemed to have had the same idea and, therefore, all the futons furthest away from the orange-haired boy were taken.)

The redhead closed his eyes and totally relaxed his body, trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep. Kuwabara's snoring grew even louder (even though Kurama hadn't thought that it was possible), making the roof shake threateningly and sleep totally impossible.

As a last resort, Kurama turned over onto his stomach and put a pillow over his head in a futile attempt to block out the horrible noise. It barely muted the sound.

After a while of laying in that position, Kurama sat up, his now-tangled hair falling into his face. He shook his unruly hair back and sighed. He'd been _trying_ to sleep for nearly an hour. _Obviously,_ he wasn't going to get any sleep _here._ He rose and silently slid open the door to the other room.

Hiei, to Kurama's surprise, was still there in a half-sitting position in a corner of the room. His eyes were closed and he was breathing deeply, evidently asleep. Gone from his face was the hard, angry expression that he normally wore. He looked almost...innocent. Kurama smiled softly. People looked totally different when they were asleep, especially Hiei when he was exhausted. Kurama knew that first-hand...especially since he usually had something to do with causing that exhaustion. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case tonight.

Kurama padded noiselessly across the room and into the shadows where he had meditated before. He lay down on the wooden floor, using his arm as a pillow. With the silence, he fell asleep in minutes...

* * *

...And awoke a few hours later with the feeling of cold metal against his throat. He opened his eyes, then stiffened as he saw a dark figure standing over him. It took him a few moments to find his voice. "Hiei..?" he whispered, hoping desperately that he was right.

"Hn." The katana blade was withdrawn. "What do _you_ want?" The fire demon demanded sourly.

Kurama sighed. "I _was_ asleep, but I heard a noise. _Probably_ Kuwabara's snoring." The redhead grinned as Hiei grumbled something about "damned noisy monkeys" and turned to leave. Kurama's smile disappeared beneath a frown. "Hiei..." The fire demon stopped, waiting for the kitsune to continue. But Kurama had no intention of talking. He sat up and pulled Hiei to him, holding him tightly. The fire demon struggled briefly, then relaxed against Kurama's chest. 

The half-youko gently kissed Hiei, who turned away. Kurama frowned again. "Hiei...are you okay?"

Hiei didn't answer. He pulled away from Kurama and had begun to walk away, when they heard the sound of a twig snapping. Kurama and Hiei moved to the center of the room, standing back to back. Hiei threw off his cloak and brandished his katana, while Kurama changed into his youko form and called on his Rose Whip. They stood there, waiting. For a moment, the only sound in the room was their breathing.

Then the wall collapsed and a band of six demons jumped in, surrounding Hiei and Kurama and brandishing a variety of weapons. They attacked immediately. Blow after blow was directed at the two fighters, and blow after blow was deflected.

Eventually, the two were forced to move to the sides of the room, each fighting off three demons.

Hiei slashed at his opponents, and dodged the blows directed at him. Unfortunately, his opponents had at least some fire-demon blood in them, since they managed to dodge most of his blows. He wasn't having an easy time of dodging all of their blows, considering that there were three of them and only one of him.

Eventually, his katana was knocked from his hands and he was caught. Two of the demons held him suspended a few feet above the floor. His eyes widened as he saw the third demon closely. He remembered, years ago, seeing this same demon rip the life force from a traitor in Hintoshu's gang...The `traitor' who had warned him against joining. The small youkai struggled fiercely against his captors, to no avail.

The pink-haired demon grinned at him and put a hand on Hiei's forehead. Immediately, pain tore through his body as he felt his energy being ripped from him. He screamed in pain. Seconds later, everything went black.

* * *

Kurama was doing well, considering that one of his opponents was already wrapped in a cocoon of vines, and another was well on his way to becoming a green mummy as well.

The silver-haired fox spirit glanced over at Hiei to see how he was faring as he sent a mass of vines toward his last opponent. Evidently, the enemies that Hiei was fighting against all had at least a little fire-demon blood in them, for they easily dodged Hiei's blows.

Kurama turned his attention back to his fight as the last demon somehow managed to evade his vines. He sent more vines out, totally surrounding and capturing his opponent. Kurama smiled as another green cocoon settled to the floor, then turned to help Hiei.

He gasped as he saw that his lover had been captured and was struggling fiercely against his captors. One of them placed a hand on Hiei's forehead. A pink glow engulfed the strange demon's hand. Kurama sent out his vines as the small fire demon cried out and went limp in their grasp. The demons dropped Hiei unceremoniously to the floor and burned the vines away before they reached them.

Kurama sent out more plants, trying to capture them.

* * *

Yuusuke awoke as he heard the sound of cracking wood. He then bolted upright as he heard metal clanking against metal. "_K'so!!_" He jumped to his feet and ran over to Kuwabara. "Kuwabara!! Wake up!! We've got company!!"

Kuwabara snorted, then sat up straight. "What?!" He bolted to his feet and they ran to the door leading to the other room.

They burst through the door and saw Kurama backed against the wall, trying desperately to send out enough plants to hinder the demons' progress. Hiei lay motionless on the floor on the other side of the room.

Yuusuke growled as the demons burned through the last of Kurama's plants. "Rei gan!!"

* * *

Kurama was losing. The demons had burned through every plant that he had thrown at them. He was backed against a wall with only a few plants separating him from the demons. He glanced worriedly across the room at Hiei. He didn't know what they had done to his lover, but the small fire demon had not moved from where they had dropped him. The demons burned through the last of his plants.

At that moment the door to the room burst open and a bolt of blue energy hit one of the demons, vaporizing it and part of a wall. Kuwabara cut the other two down with his rei ken.

"_Geez!_ Don't these jerks know how to use a _door?!_" Yuusuke grumbled as he saw the remains of the wall scattered on the floor. He glanced at Kuwabara, who was across the room, beating the shit out of the three green mummies on the floor, and grinned ruefully.

"Probably not," Kurama replied, changing back into his human form and smiling a bit as Kuwabara kicked one of the moaning masses of vines. He walked to Hiei's collapsed form and gently shook his shoulder. He frowned when the fire demon did not respond, and gently turned him over.

The redhead gasped. Hiei's face was nearly as white as the starburst in his hair. He frantically felt for a pulse, noting with shock that Hiei's skin was freezing, and found a weak one. He concentrated and saw that the fire demon had been totally drained of ki and cringed as he saw the horrible condition of his life-force. The youkai's fire aura was completely gone.

The other two ran over, concerned by the look on Kurama's face, and stopped short as they saw Hiei's pallid face.

"What did they _do_ to him?!" Yuusuke asked, kneeling beside Kurama, with a concerned look on his face.

Even Kuwabara looked worried. "Is he...?"

"He's alive, but _completely_ drained of ki. They even drained some of his life-force..." Kurama trailed off.

By this time, Koenma and the girls had entered the room. Midzuho immediately rushed over to Hiei.

"What's going on?" Koenma demanded, surveying the totally destroyed room.

"We were attacked again." Kurama replied softly, lifting Hiei into his arms.

Koenma looked at the fire demon. "He's nearly dead. What happened to him?"

"I don't know. Some kind of demon drained all of his ki and part of his life-force." Kurama sighed. "It's going to take a while for him to regain all of his strength. And with Hintoshu on the move, there isn't going to be much time." Kurama walked past them, into the other room, and placed the fire demon on a futon.

The others followed, Yuusuke and Kuwabara dragging the three battered and bruised, still-mummified captives along.

Koenma stepped forward and placed a hand on Hiei's forehead. His hand began to glow with an electric-blue light. After a few minutes it faded, and Koenma stepped back. Hiei's eyes opened and he began to shiver. He blinked a few times, then closed his eyes again and fell asleep, still shivering with cold. Kurama wrapped a heavy blanket around him. The fire demon's shivering gradually disappeared.

Yuusuke looked worried. "Why's he shivering?! He's _never_ cold!"

Kurama glanced at him. "He doesn't have any power left...and that includes his fire aura." He turned toward the three vine-covered figures on the floor and removed some of the vines from one to the captive's mouth. "Where is Hintoshu?" The youko asked coldly.

The demon didn't answer. In fact, it wasn't even breathing. Kurama swore. "He's dead. Probably a fast-acting poison."

Kuwabara and Yuusuke checked the other two prisoners and came up with the same result. Yuusuke's eyes flashed. "Now we can't even question them!! _K'SO!!_" He ionized the bodies of the prisoners with a blast of his rei gan.

Kurama calmly crossed the room to sit on the floor near the window, then extended his ki so he would be able to feel the presence of any unknown demons. "You all can get some sleep. I'll keep watch."

The others nodded and lay down on futons. After about an hour, Kurama moved to sit next to Hiei. He ran a finger lightly down his lover's cheek, tracing the youkai's cheekbone. The fire demon sighed softly in his sleep. Kurama smiled softly, leaned over and brushed his lips over those of his lover. He then sat back and waited for morning.


	5. Chapter Five

The Doomsday Picnic: Chapter 5 The Doomsday Picnic 

  
By Rose Thorne

Disclaimer: The usual.

Don't mind me. I stayed up until 4AM watching _Fushigi Yugi_ episodes and _Poltergeist Report_ and talking to Thayet. Then, I got up at 6AM for some stupid reason and haven't been to bed since. I also got no sleep any other nights for reasons unknown to me. I haven't lost my mind...it ran away from me!! And what time is it? It's dark outside; that's all I know. I am really, really, really sleepy...*gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp* Okay...I'm better now!! Coffee, my only vice...well...um...that and Japanese animation...

Author's note: E-mail me at Rose_Thorne@yyhmail.com.com and tell me how you like this fic. If this goes well I may write another one...

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Chapter 5

Around 4AM, Kurama had woken up Yuusuke for second watch. Then he had fallen asleep on a futon near Hiei's. Many hours later, the redhead sat up, and rubbed his eyes. Kuwabara was sitting across the room.

After stretching, Kurama stood. "What time is it?" He asked the orange-haired boy.

"Somewhere around two." the latter answered. Kurama was shocked. He hadn't meant to sleep _that_ long. Kuwabara continued. "Shizaru went home. Yuusuke is taking Keiko home. Genkai and Yukina are making some soup. Koenma, Boton, and Hinigeshi went back to the Reikai to check on things. They'll be back later." Kurama nodded, then walked to where Hiei lay. Kuwabara spoke up again. "The jerk still hasn't woken up."

Kurama hid a small smile. Kuwabara had actually sounded worried, though he had tried to cover it up under harsh words. "Why don't you go help Genkai and Yukina?"

Kuwabara looked very taken to the idea, especially since it involved him being near Yukina. "Okay. I'll come and tell you when the soup is ready."

The redheaded half-youko glanced at him. "About how long do you think it will take."

The ningen scratched his head. "I think about an hour or so."

Kurama nodded as the orange-haired boy left, then turned to look at Hiei. His lover was still asleep. Kurama reached out with his ki, and found that the fire demon had regained some energy, but not much. Kurama frowned and gave some of his energy to the little youkai.

* * *

Hiei awoke to the feeling of someone nearby, and tensed. "Hiei..?" It was Kurama. The fire demon relaxed and tried to open his eyes, but immediately closed them as he was blinded by a too-bright light and shivered. He heard movement, and felt Kurama leave. He moaned as a wave of coldness washed over him.

* * *

Kurama started as Hiei tensed. "Hiei..?" The youkai relaxed and opened his eyes briefly, but immediately closed them. Kurama frowned as he watched his lover start to shake from cold. He rose, walked to the window, and pulled down the shade to keep out the sun. He hurried back to Hiei as the fire demon groaned and gathered him in his arms. "Hiei, I've got you." The redhead smiled thankfully as his lover's eyes opened. "You okay?" he asked gently. Hiei opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. He shivered again, and Kurama held him closer. "I'll get you something to drink." He wrapped Hiei in more blankets and left the room.

Yukina was walking toward the room with a tray. She smiled as she saw Kurama. "Kurama-san! I fixed some food for you." She handed the tray to him.

Kurama returned her smile. "Thank you. Do you think you could get something for Hiei too. He finally woke up." His heart went out to her as she smiled, nodded, and ran back to the kitchen. Moments later, she reappeared with a thermos and a bottle of water. He smiled at her. "Arigato, Yukina-san." She smiled innocently and left.

He returned to the room and knelt beside Hiei. "Hiei?" The youkai's eyes opened slowly. Kurama propped him up on a couple of pillows, then held the water bottle to his lover's lips. Hiei drank thirstily, until the redhead pulled the bottle from him. Kurama then opened the thermos and let him drink some of the soup that Yukina had filled it with. The fire demon drank most of it, then turned away. Kurama set the thermos back on the tray, then smiled as Hiei's breathing grew deeper with sleep.

Sighing softly, he sat back and ate the rest of the food on the tray.


	6. Chapter Six

The Doomsday Picnic: Chapter 6 The Doomsday Picnic 

  
By Rose Thorne

Disclaimer: Any characters created by Yoshihiro Togashi remain his. Any ideas or characters that I bring into this story are copyrighted to me, so NYAA NYAA NYAA NYAA NYAA :P!!

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Chapter 6

__

A few days later...  
It took a full day for Hiei to regain enough strength to stand, and another for him to be able to walk. But his ki was still low. Even the kokuryhurra had never drained him like the youkai who attacked him had.

It had been rather quiet for a few days. Kuwabara was bored because Hiei was too tired to argue with him, so he couldn't pick fights with the fire demon. Yuusuke was bored because there wasn't any action. Kurama and Midzuho spent most of their time watching over Hiei and giving him extra ki to help speed his recovery. Hiei, for the most part, was too drained to do anything but sleep.

Finally, Koenma called a meeting to solve the problem of Hintoshu. "We've already established that Hintoshu is going to be very hard to beat," the demi-god stated. "The question is _how_ are we going to beat him? He's got an army to fight for him."

Yuusuke grinned ruthlessly. "Well, we can fight. And your army is there...It shouldn't be _too_ hard to beat him. We probably won't even _need_ the army!"

"Wanna bet?" Hiei spoke up. "He's a formidable opponent. He won't be _that_ easy to beat unless he gets too full of himself." The fire demon sighed. "I can't stay here. He's more likely to attack the temple if he knows that I'm here. I need to `disappear.' Otherwise, he'll kill everyone here to get me."

Yuusuke stared at him. "Where're you gonna go?"

The fire demon shrugged. "I don't know. I'll figure something out." He wasn't too bothered by the fact that he didn't have anywhere to go.

Hiei supressed a smirk as Kurama said what he'd expected him to say. "You can stay at my apartment. Hintoshu won't expect you to be there."

Hiei shrugged again. "Whatever." He settled on the windowsill.

Koenma continued. "Now that that's settled, we need to go on the offense." Kurama groaned inwardly. He was _really_ starting to wish that Yuusuke hadn't gotten the demi-god addicted to basketball. "We have to attack Hintoshu, and catch him off guard."

Kurama nodded. "That's a good idea. But how are we supposed to attack him if we don't know where he is?"

The demi-god smiled slightly. "We _do_ know where he is. One of our scouts found his hideout yesterday."

Yuusuke cracked his knuckles. "_Great!!_ So we get in, beat the crap out of them, and get out."

Koenma raised an eyebrow. "Essentially, yes."

Kuwabara grinned idiotically. "Awright then! Leave it to me!!"

"I've heard _that_ before," Hiei snorted from the windowsill. "If _he's_ the brains of _this_ mission, consider it failed."

Kuwabara glared at him angrily. "You're always such a jerk!!"

"At least I'm not an idiot, unlike _some_ people."

"_Hey!!_" Kuwabara lunged at him.

Hiei flitted across the room and smirked as Kuwabara fell flat on his face. "Clumsy oaf." Kuwabara pulled himself off the floor and opened his mouth to say something that undoubtably have been rude...

...If he hadn't been interrupted by Kurama. "Come on! We have more important things to do than listen to you two _bicker_ all night." But even Kurama was having a hard time keeping a straight face. At least Hiei was feeling better.

Koenma cleared his throat, and everyone shut up and settled down. "I guess it's settled then. Hiei will stay at Kurama's apartment for a few days, and, after he's regained enough strenghth, we attack Hintoshu."

Yuusuke looked around. "Okay...Whadda we do 'til then?"

Koenma shrugged. "I don't know. I suggest that you rest up. It's going to be a hard fight." He sighed. "Boton, Hinigeshi, and I will have to be leaving soon to go back to the Reikai. We'll come back in a few days."

Kurama raised an eyebrow. "Well, I need to get some seeds from my apartment. I figure I'll just spend the night there."

Yuusuke shrugged. "Fine. We'll stay here and make up the battle plan."

Hiei snorted. "With Hintoshu, you don't need a battle plan; you need a miracle."

* * *

Hiei didn't particularly feel like running to Kurama's apartment, even though he knew how to get there. As much as he hated to admit it, he was still weak after being drained of all his energy.

He glared up at Kurama as they walk. "You need to stock up on seeds, huh?"

Kurama looked at him innocently. "But I do need more seed." Then he leered at the fire demon suggestively.

Hiei scowled at him, disgusted. "You're perverted."

The fox's grin grew. "Only when it comes to you, love."

"_Baka!!_" Hiei snarled. "Don't _call_ me that!!"

The redhead gave him a mock-hurt look. "Call you what, love?"

"You are _really_ annoying sometimes. You know that?" "I try, love," Kurama said, still smiling. Hiei decided to ignore him.

A few minutes later, they reached the apartment complex where Kurama lived. Hiei jumped up to Kurama's window, and, finding it unlocked, as usual, let himself in.

A few minutes later, Kurama came in through the front door to see Hiei sitting on the couch, his eyes closed, but his body tense and unrelaxed. Kurama locked the door behind him and sat beside him.

Kurama smiled at the little youkai. "Can't sleep?"

The fire demon opened this eyes briefly, flicking them in Kurama's direction. "Hn," Hiei sniffed and closed his eyes again. After a few minutes, he sighed disgustedly and opened his eyes. "No."

Kurama pulled Hiei toward him. "Just relax." The fire demon didn't, the muscles in his back tense, coiled and ready for a fight. The redhead began to masage his back gently. After a few minutes, Hiei began to purr softly, half asleep and totally relaxed. Kurama smiled, picked the Jaganshi up carefully, trying not to wake him, and transferred him to the bed, removing the fire demon's cloak, boots, and katana before covering him with a blanket.

Then the redhead changed into a pair of aqua-blue pajamas and crawled in beside Hiei, pulling his lover close. He was soon asleep.

* * *

Hiei awoke in Kurama's arms. It was still dark outside, and Hiei lay still for a while, listening to the kitsune's soft breathing. After a few minutes, the Jaganshi snuggled closer to his fox and closed his eyes, quickly succumbing to sleep.

* * *

Nearby, a dark, mysterious youko watched his prey as he slept. He had been ordered by his master to infect this youkai with a disease of the mind. He had the ability to play with others' mental biological controls to weaken or kill them. He had been sent to kill this one.

This prey would be extra hard to deal with, for he had a Jagan. Fortunately, the youkai was already weak, so the youko would be able to affect his mind with little difficulty.

Smiling at the thought of pleasing his master, the demon began working.

* * *

Kurama awoke as Hiei bucked in his arms. The fire demon struggled wildly against him. "Hiei! What's wrong?!" The youkai didn't answer; he just continued to fight. Finally, Kurama jumped from the bed. Hiei continued to struggle against an unseen enemy.

The kitsune stared in shock, uncertain of what to do. Moments later, Hiei's back arched and he cried out in pain. Then he went limp.

"Hiei..?" Kurama gently touched his face. It was burning hot. _Literally._ The kitsune quickly pulled his hand away. "K'so!" He ripped the covers off Hiei's body and quickly stripped down to his boxers.

Then he ran to the kitchen and called Genkai's temple. Yuusuke answered. "Yuusuke..."

"What happened?!" Yuusuke interrupted, immediately sensing that something was wrong.

"It's Hiei." Kurama whispered. "He's running a very high fever. I don't know what's wrong with him!" The kitsune took a deep breath. "I need Genkai, Yukina, Kuwabara, and you to get here _now!_"

"Right."

Kurama hung up the phone. He wet a washcloth and hurried back to the bedroom. He felt Hiei's forehead again. _His temperature's going up!_ He put the washcloth on his lover's forehead. Hiei was immediately awake. "Cold!" He pulled the washcloth from his forehead. "K'rama?" The kitsune nodded. "Cold."

"I know, Hiei. You're running a very high fever."

"Mmmm..." the Jaganshi closed his eyes again.

He wasn't truely awake. Kurama nudged him. "No, Hiei. You can't go back to sleep. I need you to stay awake. Can you do that?"

Hiei opened his eyes again and stared at Kurama without really seeing him. He mumbled something unintelligable.

"You have to stay awake, Hiei." Hiei nodded slightly, keeping his eyes open with effort. Kurama helped him sit up, propping him against some pillows.

The Jaganshi shuddered and mumbled something again. Then he cried out. Kurama furrowed his brow. Hiei was delirious. "I know, Hiei. It's going to be okay. Yukina's on her way." he whispered, hoping that somehow the little fire demon would hear him.

The doorbell rang. "I'll be back in a minute. It'll be okay." Kurama hurried to the door and opened it. Yuusuke came in, along with the others, including Keiko and Shizaru. Kurama greeted them, then closed and locked the door again. "Come on."

They hurried to Kurama's bedroom. Hiei had passed out, his face flushed with fever. Kurama frowned. "He has a very high fever. He was delirious a few moments ago..."

Yukina walked to the bed and felt Hiei's forehead. She pulled her hand away quickly. "With this temperature, he _should_ be dead!"

Kurama hurried to the bathroom and filled the tub with cool water. "We did this for my little brother once when he was running a high fever. It brought his fever down." The half-youko picked Hiei up and walked to the bathroom. "Yuusuke, I need you to use your reiki to soundproof the bathroom."

"_What?!_ Why?"

"Because this is going to be very painful." Yuusuke threw up a reiki shield around the bathroom. "Good." Kurama lowered Hiei into the water. Hiei's body jerked and he screamed in pain. Kurama held him down as he thrashed wildly, trying to escape the water that felt painfully cold against his burning skin. Then the Jaganshi went totally limp. Kurama carefully held the fire demon's head above the water.

"Holy shit!" Yuusuke yelped. The water was evaporating. Kurama glanced at him, then turned on the cold water.

Genkai and Yukina entered the room. The Koorime touched Hiei's chest. A blue light surrounded her and the fire demon, gradually fading. "This can't be right! I can't find anything wrong with him!"

Genkai looked at Kurama meaningfully. "That leaves his mind."

"Waitaminute!" Yuusuke said. "You're saying that someone affected his mind?! They can't! His Jagan prevents that..." Genkai looked at him. "...doesn't it?"

The old woman sighed. "In his weakened condition, a powerful youkai could have affected his mind. It would have been difficult, but it could be done." She paused, considering. "We need Kuwabara." Yuusuke left the room, then returned a moment later with Kuwabara. "Kuwabara, I need you to look into Hiei's mind. Look for any tampering."

Kuwabara glanced at the unconscious fire demon. "It would be easier if I had Shizaru's help."

"Help with what?" Shizaru asked, entering the bathroom. Genkai explained the situation to the ningen. Shizaru looked down at Hiei. "Poor kid. 'Course I'll help!" She grabbed Kuwabara's hand, then put her other hand on Hiei's forehead. Everyone held their breath for a while. After a few moments, Shizaru came out of her trance long enough to say. "Found it." Everyone sighed in relief.

Thirty minutes later, Shizaru removed her hand from Hiei's forehead. "There. Whoever did that was a professional. There were a lot of safeguards against us undoing the tampering that was done." She looked at the unconscious Jaganshi. "He'll be fine."

Kurama looked up. "His temperature's going down." He glanced at Shizaru. "There are some towels in the hallway closet. Could you get a few of them?" Shizaru nodded and left the room, returning a few minutes later with three towels. Gently, Kurama lifted Hiei from the bathtub and wrapped him in the towels that Shizaru gave him.

Genkai looked at Kurama meaningfully. "Hintoshu knows that he is here. He would be safer at the temple."

"I know. Let me get my seeds." He put Hiei down on the bed and opened a drawer, taking out a few packages of rose seeds, and some Makai seeds as well. Then he realized that he was still in his pajamas. "I'd better change..." he said, blushing a little.

Shizaru grinned, then picked up Hiei and dragged Kuwabara from the room. Everyone else followed her. Kurama dressed quickly and put the seed packages in his pocket, then grabbed a backpack and shoved Hiei's clothes and boots into it, along with some clothes for himself and Hiei's katana.

When they got outside, Shizaru gave Hiei to Kurama and walked beside him. They fell back from the others. The group headed toward Genkai's temple in silence.

"Kurama..." Shizaru started, then stopped. While she had been in Hiei's mind, she had seen most of his memories. She'd shielded them so Kuwabara wouldn't see them. Pulling out a cigarette, she began again, in a whisper. "I...I saw a lot of Hiei's memories...And...well..." She lit the cigarette and took a long puff.

"You saw our relationship," Kurama finished for her.

Shizaru nodded. "I'm sorry." She felt as if she had intruded on their privacy. "I made sure that my brother didn't see anything."

"It's okay. I knew that someone would find out eventually. I'm just glad that it wasn't Yuusuke or Kuwabara. They wouldn't be as nice about it as you're being."

The ningen girl blushed fiercely. "Thank you."

"So...you don't really care about this?" Kurama looked surprised.

"Not really. I'm not very surprised either. You always take care of him, and he'll put up with you more than anyone else." Shizaru grinned at Kurama. "Besides, you two look so _cute_ together!"

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Okay. This is the last chapter that I've written so far. If anyone wants me to write more, please e-mail me (Rose_Thorne@yyhmail.com) and ask me. Thanx.


	7. Chapter Seven

Doomsday Picnic: Chapter Seven

The Doomsday Picnic  
By Rose Thorne

~Standard Disclaimers Apply!!~

Chapter 7

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Yukina, Keiko, Midzuho, and Shizuru were hanging around in the temple kitchen. Yukina was preparing lunch.

Keiko sighed. "I hope the boys get done with this mission soon."

Shizuru nodded. "Hiei's been looking a bit pale. If the mission doesn't end soon, he may get sick."

Keiko shook her head. "From what Yuusuke's told me, he might be killed. This Hintoshu guy wants him dead for some reason..."

Yukina frowned. "That horrible youkai! Why is he trying to kill Hiei-san?"

Shizuru shrugged, lighting a cigarette. "From what I could figure out, they're old enemies. Hiei was challenged by Hintoshu and he beat him. Badly. I guess this guy holds a pretty big grudge. He's too big a coward to fight Hiei outright. Sends other people to do his dirty work."

Midzuho frowned darkly. "That's why I'm here. He used my family against me..."

There was an uncomfortable silence for a while that was finally broken by Keiko. "I hope they beat him."

Yukina frowned. "I hope they kill him." The other girls stared at the Koorime. She looked away. "He's almost killed Hiei-san three times now!"

Shizuru sighed. "I don't think they'll be able to stop Hintoshu without killing him."

"I'm going to bring Hiei-san something to eat," Yukina whispered.

Shizuru nodded. "We might as well serve the boys. I'll take something to my stupid brother."

Midzuho smiled softly. "I'll take something to Master Genkai."

Keiko moaned. "Yuusuke always eats sooo much!"

Yukina smiled. "I'll take something to Kurama-kun too. I think he's with Hiei-san anyway."

Shizuru nodded, hiding a smile and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. "Probably." The four girls fixed baskets of food and went their separate ways.

* * *

Yukina found Hiei and Kurama on the porch. The Koorime noticed that Hiei was paler than usual. He also had very dark circles under his eyes, evidence of the exhaustion he was trying to hide. _He's always so strong..._ Yukina sat down near them. "I brought you some food."

Hiei glanced at her. "Thanks," he muttered gruffly.

Kurama smiled at the Koorime. "Arigato, Yukina-chan."

Yukina handed Hiei a large bowl of rice. The fire demon took it, but didn't eat. Kurama started on his own bowl immediately.

Yukina looked at Hiei with concern. "Aren't you hungry, Hiei-san?" The fire demon only shrugged. Yukina frowned unhappily and looked away.

Kurama glared at Hiei behind the girl's back. The fire demon relented and ate a bit. Yukina brightened up considerably and poured tea for herself and her friends. She noticed with relief that Hiei was a bit less pallid than he had been. The fire demon remained silent, lost in his thoughts.

Yukina cleared her throat. "Why is that demon attacking us?" she finally asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

Hiei nearly choked on his tea; Kurama _did_. The fire demon stared at his sister for a while before responding. "Doesn't like me," he murmured finally.

"Why not?"

Hiei sighed, knowing that he couldn't deny an explanation to his sister. "A long time ago, he wanted me to join his stupid gang. I refused, so he challenged me. I beat him, and the gang disbanded. So he wants revenge."

"Why doesn't he challenge you to a battle?" Yukina asked softly.

Hiei scowled. "Damn coward knows he's lose!"

Yukina was silent for a moment. "What are you going to do?" she asked quietly.

The fire demon stared at her for a moment, then looked away. "I don't know," he said honestly.

Yukina smiled weakly. "Well, I hope you think of something..."

Kurama watched the Koorime leave, then turned to Hiei. "We're going to have to find Hintoshu. It's the only way."

Hiei glared at the fox. "Do you _know_ how many followers he has?!"

Kurama grabbed Hiei's hand and caressed it lightly with his thumb. "Koibito, we work better in an outright battle. We can't allow them to continue these guerilla tactics or we _will_ lose!" _We'll lose you, itooshi!_

Hiei frowned. "I know," he muttered. "That bastard's up to something. I just wish I knew what it was..."

Kurama sighed. "Well, worrying about it won't do us any good." The fox indicated the half-finished bowl of rice. "And not eating won't help either. Finish that."

Hiei was too tired to argue. Putting the now-empty bowl down, the Jaganshi leaned back against the post, formulating mental battle plans. His eyelids grew heavy and he slipped off into a deep, much-needed sleep.

The redhead frowned as Hiei fell asleep. Ever since the attack at Kurama's apartment, the fire demon had been getting tired easier.

Yuusuke suddenly hurried up, seemingly appearing from nowhere. The ningen opened his mouth to say something, but closed it considerately as he saw the sleeping fire demon. He bent toward Kurama. "We need to attack Hintoshu soon. Koenma's messenger demons found his hideout."

Kurama shrugged, rising. He gently picked up Hiei, who didn't even stir, and entered the temple. The fox placed Hiei on a futon and tucked the fire demon in, then turned and headed out the door again.

Yuusuke sat on the porch and waited for Kurama to speak. Finally the fox sighed. "We'll attack when Hiei's recovered."

"_What_?! We can't-"

Kurama interrupted the ningen. "This is _Hiei's_ battle. He would never forgive us." The fox's eyes flashed dangerously as he defended his injured lover. "And don't you _dare_ mention anything about it to him until he's recovered," Kurama hissed. "He feels bad enough about putting everyone in danger without us running off and possibly getting killed over something that's _his_ business."

Yuusuke leaned away from the youko. "Hey, I understand. We'll wait."

"Good." The ningen watched as Kurama entered the room where Hiei was sleeping, sliding the door shut behind him.

Yuusuke sighed. Kurama had been getting very protective of Hiei for a long time, even before Hintoshu had showed his ugly mug.

The ningen thought about it for a while, coming up with only one conclusion. He shook his head. Hiei just wasn't the type...

Or _was_ he? Both Hiei and Kurama were youkai, and most youkai were bisexual. Some, most notably the Koorime, were homosexual. _Hiei's half Koorime, and Kurama's half kitsune,_ Yuusuke realized suddenly. It all fit.

The ningen grinned, shaking his head at the fact that he had not noticed before, wondering to himself how long their relationship had been going on under his nose. He made a mental note to ask Kurama when Hiei wasn't around.

Unlike most other people, Yuusuke had no problem with homosexuality. In fact, he'd gone with his mother to a few of her parties and had discovered that some of her friends lived that lifestyle and, contrary to common ningen belief, they weren't psychotic freaks. They were actually quite normal, except for the fact that they slept with people of their own sex. _Which is perfectly normal by Makai standards,_ Yuusuke knew.

However, in the Ningenkai, homosexuality was looked down upon. And Kurama was doing his best to be human. Yuusuke had to respect him for making such a difficult decision. Besides, Hiei's attitude had been getting better in the last few months. Yuusuke figured that it was Kurama's doing.

Yuusuke was violently shaken from his thoughts as something hard hit him in the back of his head.

Keiko stood behind him, red with anger. "Yuusuke no bak-" she began, her voice very loud.

Yuusuke put his hand over her mouth quickly, shutting her up. "Hiei's asleep in there," he whispered before she could react, indicating the door. "If you wanna yell at me about something, we'll have to move." He removed his hand and led her away to a short distance. "Go on. Yell away."

Keiko blinked at him, then offered him a basket. "It got cold while I was looking for you," she said softly.

Yuusuke grinned gratefully. "I'm so hungry I don't care. I could even eat _your_ cooking," he added smartly.

The girl whacked him halfheartedly as he tore into the food. "How is Hiei doing, anyway?"

Yuusuke shrugged. "He was asleep when I went to talk to him and Kurama. Good thing too. Earlier he looked like a feather woulda knocked him out." Yuusuke took another bite of food, chewing thoughtfully. "Kurama said to put off any attack until Hiei can fight. I agree."

Keiko stared at him. "What?! Why? Shouldn't we get rid of that...that _monster_?!"

Yuusuke shook his head. "Keiko, having Hiei is a tactical advantage. He knows how Hintoshu thinks."

The girl nodded. "How long..?"

The black-haired boy sighed. "With Hiei, it's hard to tell. He hates to rely on anyone, and I understand his feelings. The only person he really trusts is Kurama. He respects me and knows that I consider him a friend, but he doesn't trust me. And Kuwabara is...kinda a friendly rival. The only person who would know how badly weakened he is would be Kurama. And he's not going to tell anyone," the ningen added as Keiko stood.

"Why not?!" Keiko asked angrily.

"Hiei would see it as a violation of his trust."

"Nani?" Keiko frowned. "Just for telling us how he is?"

Yuusuke shook his head again. "For giving us information that could give us a potential advantage over him." The girl blinked, not understanding. _Try explaining Makai morals to a ningen..._ Yuusuke elaborated cautiously. "Hiei comes from a different world; much different from the Ningenkai. He's had to fight for survival for nearly his entire life. Pretty much since the day he was born. That's the reason he's so powerful." Yuusuke frowned. "He's so powerful that I dread ever fighting him as an enemy."

Keiko nodded, sighing softly. "So he's like you? An..." She paused, searching for the term. "An S-class?"

Yuusuke nodded with a small grin, then ate the rest of his food piggishly. He was relieved when Keiko's expression changed from curiosity to supreme annoyance. _Good,_ the half-ningen thought. Keiko had been getting too nosy for her own good.

The girl stamped her foot irately. "Yuusuke!" she shrieked. "Why do you always have to eat like a pig?! I swear-"

She stood speechless as Yuusuke disappeared. Then his voice rang out from the ground beneath her. "Really, Keiko, _Barbie_ underwear? I thought you were too _old_ for that-"

The girl screamed in rage, and Yuusuke tore across the temple grounds with her right behind him.

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*grins* Well, I finally turned out another chapter! Finally! And I know what to do with the rest of the fic! Wai! Wai! *frowns* Now I have to actually _write_ it...


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